High Altitude Medicine

We had a guest lecture by Dr. Gianotti from Stanford on high altitude pulmonary physiology. Due to low barometric pressures at higher altitudes, mountain climbers (and tourists) often face medical issues like acute mountain sickness, high altitude pulmonary edema, and high altitude cerebral edema. The science and medicine behind all these conditions are pretty fascinating and make a lot of sense, but probably outside the scope of this blog.

About ten minutes into the talk, it suddenly occurred to me I had heard the professor's stories and seen his slides before. It turns out, he gave the same talk to the human physiology class I took at Stanford. Amazing, huh? He's an expert on this topic, having staffed clinics in the Himalayas and been the physician for ambitious climbing trips. His stories are certainly poignant and awe-inspiring. He is a great supporter of the locals (a team of ten climbers had to hire 300 local people to carry their equipment, including two simply to carry the money to pay all of the porters on a daily basis - it's crazy). His pictures are beautiful.